Murray State
Alabama A&M
Racer Women Go 'Free' Style In 11th Straight Home Win
12/22/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
It is said that the best things in life are free, and that certainly was the case for the Murray State women's basketball team, which beat visiting Alabama A&M 76-72 on the strength of 30 free throws to gain its 11th straight home win, which is tied for seventh in Division I among active home win streaks. the Racers made 10 of their last 11 free-throw attempts of the game, including the last six in a row. The game marked the second time in the last three games that MSU made 30 free throws.
Neither team was getting it done from the floor in the first half, with the Racers (9-3) making nine of their 28 shots (32.1 percent) and the Bulldogs (1-6) hitting 11 of 38 (28.9 percent). However, MSU had a 36-32 lead at the half behind 17-for-21 shooting in the first period from the line.
In the second half, both teams improved from the field, but Murray State also found its inside game, scoring 18 second-half points in the paint and keeping AAMU to eight points in the lane in that period.
Alabama A&M tied the game at 67-67 when Katrich Williams hit a three-pointer with 1:48 remaining in regulation. The Racers brought the ball down the floor, and with time running out on the shot clock, junior guard Amber Guffey launched a three and was fouled on the shot. Guffey, who ranks 12th in the nation in free-throw shooting, hit her three frees to give Murray State the lead for good with 1:16 left in the game.
After a miss from the line by junior guard/forward Ashley Hayes, senior guard Alaina Lee -- starting for the first time in five games -- grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She hit her two free-throw attempts with 36 seconds left to give MSU a 72-67 lead.
Williams hit another three to close the gap to 72-70 with 26 seconds remaining, but senior guard Shaleea Petty was fouled on the next possession. She hit her two free throws, and on MSU's next possession, Guffey was fouled again and made her two free-throw attempts to seal the 76-72 win.
Murray State made 17 of its 21 first-half free-throw attempts (81 percent) and 13 of its 15 second-half attempts (86.7 percent), making 30 of its 36 attempts for the game (83.3 percent), which should help keep the Racers among the top two teams in the nation in free-throw shooting. MSU ranked second last week after holding the top spot the week before.
"I thought this game was going to be about toughness," said MSU head coach Jody Adams. "We've been on the road, and counting tonight, had four games in eight days, the first three on the road over a six-day period, traveling so many miles and being on the bus for so long. I am proud of this team for maintaining their focus. They came out and were able to fight with a very good team. I thought that Alabama A&M was the best rebounding team we have played against. I challenged our team at halftime to out-rebound them, and they did that, 22-16, in the second half.
"At halftime, we talked about going into our 2-3 zone, which helped us, and securing the rebound. Offensively, 37 percent is so uncharacteristic for this team, and that was dead legs; there's no doubt about it. I really thought we showed what we were made of, gritting it out and knocking down our free throws.
"Angela Brown had a good night for us," Adams said. "She's building her confidence game by game, being able to score the ball around the rim. She is a huge factor for us. I thought Alaina Lee had a great game. She's been out for two weeks, came in, played a lot of minutes, got some huge rebounds and knocked down some shots. Amber Guffey changed her game a little bit at the end. She's beginning to jump-stop in the paint, which really helped her finish some big plays for us."
Murray State was led by Guffey, who had a game-high 24 points, going 13-for-14 from the line, including hitting all six of her second-half tries. She also had six rebounds and game-highs with six assists and three steals.
Hayes had her seventh double-double of the night with 14 points and 14 rebounds. She went 6-for-9 from the line and had 10 defensive boards. Lee had 16 points, going 5-for-9 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line. Brown had six rebounds and a team season-high four blocked shots, while Petty had two steals and went 4-for-4 from the line.
Alabama A&M was paced by Felicia Drummond, who had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Rebekkah Barnes added 11 points and four assists, while Williams had 10 points and a co-team-high five assists. Christian Malone grabbed seven rebounds for the Bulldogs to go with five assists.
Murray State (3-1 OVC) will take its holiday break returning to Ohio Valley Conference action on Jan. 3 at league-leading Eastern Illinois (5-7, 4-0 OVC).
